Battery-separator.



F. E. WHITNEY.

BATTERY SEPARATOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.20. 19:1.

Patented Oct. 30,1917.

Gozitinuetion of application Serial No.

FRANK E. WHITNEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T COMMERCIAL TRUCK CQMPANY OF AMERICA, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORA- rrnn or rnnnsrrvanm.

er aces. a,

To aZZ whomit may concern:

Q Be it known that l, FRANK E. WHITNEY,.

acitiaen or" the-United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented a Batteryfieriaatator, of which the following is a specification.

. In order, to prevent the dislodgment of active material from the electrodes of storage batteries of the flat plate type it is cus- 'tomary to provide fiat structures of insulatmg material-in engagement with the faces of saidelectrodes, and these while provided with, openingstopermit of the access of the electrolyte, for the most part covered the surfaces of the latter-in order to accomplish the above noted object. A large proportionelectrolyte to the surface of the electrode, shall he of such form and dimensions as to reduce to a minimum the-active material capable of becoming dislodged.

I A further object of the invention is to provide a novel form of separator or retaining plate which in addition to maintaining the electrodes of a storage battery at the proper distances apart while providing channels between them for the circulation of the electrolyte, shall have'openings or perforations leading from these channels to the surface or said plate of such form and dimensions as to retainthe active material in place and at the same time expose sufficient plate surface to the electrolyte to allow the battery to properly perform its functions.

These objects and other advantageous ends I secure as hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the. accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a portion of a battery separator constructed according to my inventransverse section of the struc- Fig. 1:

Specification of Letters Patent;

BATTERY-SEPARATOR.

Patented Oct. 30, 1917.

34,705, filed June 17, 1915. This application filed September 20,

1917. Seria1Ho.192,314.

' and a horizontal section showing on an en larged scale the detail construction of the separator plate illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 1s a vertical section on the line 55,

of the positive electrodes and the negative elect-rode is inserted a separator 3 in the form of a flat plate having vertically extending ribs 4, and between the ribbed face of eachcf these separators and the adjacent positive plate is mounted a relatively much thinner plate 5 of some insulating material such as hard rubbenwhich lies in direct, and intimate contact with the surface of said electrodes.

This retaining plate 5 according to my invention is provided with any desired number of series of relatively narrow elongated slots 6 formed by punching or otherwise bodily removing narrow elongated pieces of said plate and while in the forms illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, its two faces are plane so that it may beemployed with the separator plates it may be made with a series of parallel ribs 7 as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive. It is to-be noted that the slots 6 are of relatively great length as compared with their width, being slightly more than 1/100 of a'n inch in width, that is, about Ho/10,000 of an inch and about 3/16 of an inch in length and that adjacent slots are separated by distances likewise greater than their width. The

plates themselves are usually about 1/64 of an inch in thickness so that it is noted that the slots are of less width than such thickness. When the plates are constructed as shown in Figs. 1 to'5, the ribs 7 project from the unperforated plane portions between the ends of each two adjacent series of slots.

22?. aeaoao It is to he noted that the diameter of a circular opening having the same area as oneof the'slots 6 would be several times' greater than the width of said slot, so that obviously the latter is more efiective by reason of its narrowness in preventing the dislodgment of activematerial from the surface of the electrode to which it is ad jacent, While exposing the same amount of active material. By my invention therefore the amount of active material falling out of a battery plate after prolonged operation is considerably less than would he the case with plates having circular openings of the same aggregate area but-of other forms, and the life and efficiency of the battery is usually materially increased.

v ;lVhile as shown in Fig. 7, I'may use thin plates of non-conducting material in connection with ribbed or other forms of separator plates, the latter may be omitted if desired and plates made according to my invention, having ribs 7, may advantageously be employed to replace both sets of plates 3 and 5. In suchcase the plane surface of each plate would be placed in direct engagement. with the surface of the adjacent positive. electrode so that the electrolyte is free to circulate through the channels defined. by the'ribs and the-surface of the negative electrode. As before -while the necessary area of electrode surface isexposed to said electrolyte, theslots in the separator or retaining plates are'so narrow as to practically prevent the dropping out of the active material. I 7 As this application possesses matter in common rsvith an application filed by me tively narrow slots of a Width approximately .0125 of an inch. a

2. As a new articleof manufacture a battery separator consisting of a plane, relativelythin sheet of insulating material having portions removed from its body to form therein a series of elongated, relatively narrow slots of a Width less than the thickness of said sheet. 'i

3. The combination in a storage battery of a flat pasted plate constituting a positive electrode having peroxid of' lead as its active material; separators mounted immediately adjacent theflat faces of said elec trode and-consisting of plane, relatively thin sheets of insulating material eachv having portions removed from its body to. form, therein a series of elongated relatively'narrow slots of a: Width sufiicientlysmall to prevent the passage of material amounts of the lead peroxid of said' plate h'ut wide enough to permit access of electrolyte to said peroxid in-aniounts' sufiicient to prevent undue weakening of thev electrolyte during discharge.

in witness whereof lalfix my'signature.

Fannie n. ivnrrnnr. 

